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Classmates: Ridgeway suspect fascinated by crime-scene forensics

Standley Lake High School seniors look through a school yearbook on Wednesday. They located the junior-class portrait of Austin Sigg, who was arrested on suspicion of murdering 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

The teenager who police say killed 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway was described by a former classmate as nice and helpful, by another as creepy.

But those who know him universally describe Austin Reed Sigg, 17, as very smart, and very interested in the science of crime-scene investigation and the mechanics of death.

Jacqueline Miller, who shared a Psychology 101 class with Sigg at Arapahoe Community College, remembered that when the semester began in August, the instructor asked students about their majors. Sigg, she recalled, announced that his major was mortuary science.

When Miller presented a paper on anti-social personality disorder, Sigg seemed particularly intrigued that she used serial killer Ted Bundy as a case study. As Miller explained how Bundy had no empathy for his victims, she noticed Sigg chuckling to himself.

"He was so lit up about what I was saying," Miller recalled. "He was asking about it. He was intrigued. It was almost like he was excited about it.

"He said he was intrigued by dead bodies. There was something creepy about him."

Meaghan Barker didn't see that.

The boy who sat next to her in the forensic science class at Warren Tech North last spring was nice, Barker said. He was helpful and polite, a good student who helped others with their homework.

So when Barker learned Wednesday that he was the teenager accused of killing Jessica Ridgeway, she was stunned.

"I broke down," Barker said. "I saw his face, and I just cried."

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Sigg, arrested Tuesday night, was being held at the Mount View Youth Services Center in Lakewood. He faces numerous charges, including two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree kidnapping. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance at 8 a.m. Thursday in Jefferson County.

The forensic-science course Sigg and Barker shared brought the allure of popular TV crime-scene investigation shows into the classroom.

"Basically, you learn how the body is decomposed. We learned about DNA, we learned about blood splatters, we learned about hair analysis," said Barker, who graduated from Warren Tech, which is Jeffco Public Schools' technical school, and is studying to be a medical examiner.

Sigg excelled in the class, even taking second place in Warren Tech's science fair, she said.

The subject of his project: decomposing bodies.

"His project was keeping a body in water versus keeping it in dirt or frozen," Barker said.

In March, Sigg also took second place in a forensic-science competition during the statewide Health Occupations Students of America State Leadership Conference in Loveland.

Barker said Sigg never talked about his family.

Court records and other documents indicate a troubled history.

Sigg's father, Robert Sigg of Parker, has a lengthy arrest record that includes domestic violence charges. In 2005, he pleaded guilty in federal court to bank fraud and was ordered to pay more than $141,000 in restitution. At the same time, he was linked to financial scandals involving Heritage Christian Center.

Wednesday, she told The Associated Press that her son turned himself in. "I made the phone call, and he turned himself in. That's all I have to say," she said, before breaking down in tears.

Before his arrest, Austin Sigg lived with his mother and 14-year-old brother in a Westminster neighborhood that Wednesday afternoon was ringed with police cars and off limits to all but residents.

Because of their proximity to the crime, area residents feared that the killer might live in their midst — but Sigg's arrest shocked some.

"All of us in the neighborhood, we thought, 'What if that person lived around here?' " said Sharon, a neighbor who asked that her last name not be used. "But we thought it would be someone older. We never saw him out causing trouble. Nothing."

As a fifth-grader, Sigg attended Witt Elementary, the same school Jessica Ridgeway was headed to when she disappeared Oct. 5.

Robert Sigg

Sigg went on to Wayne Carle Middle School and then Standley Lake High School. He left the high school to attend Warren Tech and was enrolled in Jeffco schools until July.

Wednesday, former classmates said that although he dropped out of high school, Sigg was no academic slacker.

Lindsey Drago, a 16-year-old junior at Standley Lake, said that while Sigg wasn't really popular, or always happy, "he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would do this."

After Sigg's arrest was announced shortly after noon, students said an awkward silence fell over the school and teachers allowed them to leave class to visit the counselor's office or go home if they needed to.

"They're understanding, they're going through it with us," Drago said.

In August, Sigg began taking classes at Arapahoe Community College.

Jaclyn Rossorelli, who took Psychology 101 and Biology 111 with Sigg at Arapahoe, said he seemed "very charming and very intellectual."

She said after Jessica Ridgeway disappeared, Sigg began to miss classes, but eventually returned. On Tuesday, she talked with him about a biology lab paper that was due on the topic of diffusion and osmosis.

"Nothing seemed out of the ordinary," Rossorelli said.

Wednesday, current and former classmates tried to reconcile the Austin Sigg they knew with the crime that police say he committed.

"He was seriously the nicest guy," Barker said. "You would have never guessed it."

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